Just a few more

these are mainly twisted around a ruler. the top right is again using sequin offcut with a wire twisted around it before wrapping around the ruler. the bottom right is a very fine silver wire twisted around my hexagonal pen.

Twirly things and pearls

Chapter 8 #1 bought purls.
#2 shows a range of purls mainly made with enamelled wire, fine brass wire and Japanese silver paper yarn, twisted mainly around circular forms, except the one to the top left which i twisted around a hexagonal pen. i found it much easier to use metal shapes otherwise it was fairly impossible to remove them if i had wound them quite tightly.i also found it very therapeutic!
shaped forms, triangular, rectangular and oval, also a tapering one which i repeated along the length top right. in the background is a fine silver wire purled around a ruler.
some with two colours twisted around each other before twisting again, one in the front with fluorescent fishing line and silver wire. then going clockwise cut strip of brass mesh purled, fishing line and wire with loops sticking out, using wire and sequin waste cut and twisted, top left silver wire encapsulated between plastic bag and twisted. then more sequin waste pieces and crocheted silver wire. more silver wire with loops and tunnocks tea cake wrapper. in the centre are purls made from computer cables which are embedded in plastic.
tools of my trade! ancient metal files, wooden beading, crochet hook, nib holder, perspex rod, pen tweezers and ruler
finally i liked the crocheted one so much i did an extended version here in #6 and 7
i think i have missed one out so it will come in next posting!

Out of chaos comes....more chaos!

i feel embarrassed showing these but last weekend we decided to have a tidy up of the study which is also my work area!! i usually hate working unless my work surface is clear/organised but i seem to have collected such a lot of bits and bobs that i have become swamped and it has become out of control!

i have to admit it got worse than this in the process but is now looking more normal and hopefully my oomph will be back to creating! i have managed to make some metal 'purl' which i will post later. i think i need a real workroom.

Joanna Southcott and quilts

you will see that my relatively new header is a patchwork sample, this was to celebrate the V&A's 'Quilts 1700-2010' exhibition. last week i couriered a loan to the exhibition and the quilt in question was reputedly made by Joanna Southcott, 'the Exeter Prophetess'. Born in 1750 or thereabouts she became known for her visions and prophecies. in 1814 at the age of 64 she announced that she was pregnant with the new messiah (Shiloh) but died 'giving birth' with no evidence of a baby. i tell myself that only in Devon do we get such eccentrics (a la 'Jam and Jerusalem' kind) but i am sure i will be proved wrong. the patchwork on show at the V&A was made about 1808/10 from a rather intriguing array of printed cottons which have a rather 1950's look to them. Her name is embroidered on the quilt with her own hair. the exhibition which was looking very impressive last week is going to be stunning but will prove to be very popular, they have sold quite a large number of tickets already!

Just squeezing in Shi Sha (machine)

well the sewing machine came out and after a few practices i came up with the above piece. my sewing machine is somewhat old but works beautifully when asked to do something fairly normal until you want to alter the tension! i only seem to be able to alter the top thread and then not very much but the above shi sha are all slightly different. the ground fabric is actually a pink synthetic semi transparent fabric with coloured tissue stuck on top and printed shapes and papers all sandwiched onto a blue paper.
combining hand and machine, using mica and shi sha and twisted threads to hold pieces in place. the base fabric is printed with a drawing based on one of my shi sha studies with coloured tissue stuck on the silk. the top row is fairly abstract, middle horizontal mica hand stitched and the lower vertical pieces stitched with machine stitches.

Chapter 7, contemporary Shi Sha (hand)

have you noticed that if you type in Shi Sha on google you get many links for hookahs! many appear to be made of glass but i think that's where the similarity with shi sha embroidery stops.
so far i have only used hand stitching for my contemporary pieces, somehow setting the sewing machine up is more daunting (but i am onto it!)
first one above uses a metal ring from a bead shop lashed with fine nylon filament over a street find! it seems quite apt as i think it comes from Cobra lager!
two- a series of small stacked shiny bits held in place with a combination of lurex and tied wire.
three- bits of mica held down with crocheted silver wire.
four- clear plastic disc stitched with nylon filament and enclosing some brightly coloured sequins.
five- using some silver card discs from the 'scrap store' i have held them in place with pieces of semi transparent fabric. two over the top and the middle one underneath. to make them a bit more interesting i have pulled threads and burnt holes in the enclosing patches.
i tend to keep everything now! above are two chocolate coin foils held with silver lurex just by running stitches either side of the foil and finally linking in the middle.
sticky back plastic cut into a circle with a 'jali' screen pattern cut into it and stuck over silver paper shi sha.
small knitted squares over shi sha pieces, left knitted with nylon, right with lurex. i adapted the shi sha's by scraping some of the metallic backing off and sticking printed tissue paper on the reverse, inspired by Anne Desmet's work where she had stuck images on the reverse of glass tesserae .
above holding down shapes with embroidery thread.
Shi Sha's cut from sardine tins, herringbone stitched in place with fishing line and backgroung filled in. i quite fancy the idea of doing more of these!
i have noticed that only 3 of the above are stitched onto textile! i think paper is taking over and now i am finding it hard to think in pure textile! the following and the one above are continuing with my photo theme. the hand above i found on the street in Cardiff. the jewels are held with wrapped metal thread which is then 'stitched' with more metal thread.
i have always wanted to do something with false nails apart from putting them on my hands! this was the first bit of shi sha i did back at Christmas time, the nails are from a childrens set!! they are held down by linking threads, i also included some Kutch stitch.
shiny parchment pebbles stitched over with nylon thread.
and finally legal graffiti (by who?) using a large sequin. i realise that i haven't put ant scales on any of these but the final photos are all more or less A4, bottle top speaks for itself and the others are all quite smallish.so just going to get the sewing machine!

Decorative details from shi sha, chapter 6

it seems a long time since i posted any work but i am now back on track, i hope; the sun is /was shining, it is now 8 in the evening and dark but spring is round the corner. i have had enough of this wish to hibernate. i started by looking closely at areas of my shi sha textiles and made various items for rubbing and printing from. lino cuts, large scale shi sha from chocolate coin foils,large scale kutch and chain stitches and in keeping with my graffiti theme some more stencils.
one- basic rubbing with caran d'ache metallic wax crayons on black tissue
two- again using a mixture of items for rubbing over with Markal sticks, wax crayons and adding a bit of colour with oil pastels on tissue
three- on silk 'paper' a similar use of rubbings
four- on a Japanese ribbed paper
five- more rubbings but i wanted to explore cut outs on the paper like Jali screens, would like to do more cut outs all over.
six- same sort of thing to five but with cut outs from one of the stencils i made, on Lokta paper
seven- now to printing with the lino cuts using metallic paints and layering with rubbings
eight- more combinations of print and rub (sounds like scratch and sniff)!
working one lino print into a round to imitate a shi sha with rubbed wavy ric rac lines. like Indian textiles i wanted to explore the use of a patterned substrate. the local Indian deli gave me the newspaper which i coloured with 'brusho'
nine- using the concept of layering i tried some rubbings onto acetate with mainly oil pastels.
ten- starting to get carried away with glitter, i stencilled areas with pva and applied glitter. i keep thinking they look like wrist watches!
eleven- more glitter
oops forgot to number the above! anyway i pleated and printed onto a pre-rubbed silk paper, opened out and added more print in different colour way and applied some bits of newsprint.
again forgot to number - pleated and stencilled with metallic paint then various rubbings and then pleated in a different direction and stuck stencilled circles of tissue over the pleats. when dry i tore the pleats open and added markal silver ric-rac.
twelve- printing with collage onto a silver shiny paper which has curled up a bit on drying but it gives an interesting effect.
finally a collage of various bits and bobs.i also did some printing with glitter onto the shiny silver paper but i found it rather difficult to photograph, i will try again, but i am now ready to do some stitching for Chapter 7!